The Guatemalan Association of Journalists has condemned the January 22 armed attack on the home of journalist Manuel Gilberto GarcÃa and his family in the city of Jutiapa, an act of intimidation which follows threatening telephone calls he has been receiving since March 2001. Unidentified individuals shot at his home in the "El Condor" neighbourhood in the city of Jutiapa on the night of 22 January. Two bullets penetrated the door of the home, landing inside.
GarcÃa, director of the television sports programme "Escenario Deportivo", broadcast by Cable de Televisión, and of the programme "Impacto Deportivo", broadcast by the Jutiapa radio station Radio Tamazulapa, was not injured in the attack, a statement issued by Guatemalan Association of Journalists (Asociación de Periodistas de Guatemala - APG) and International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) said.
The Association of Jutiapan Journalists (Asociación de Periodistas Jutiapanecos, APJ), of which GarcÃa is a member, described the attack as "a clear act of intimidation" aimed at "silencing him [GarcÃa] for his sports journalism" in the two media outlets in the Jutiapa department.
The APG considers the attack on the journalist's home to be not the result of common crime or the unsafe situation in the department, but rather an attack on freedom of thought, similar to such acts committed in the past, when journalists were threatened, kidnapped, persecuted or murdered for exercising their right to inform the public.
APG believes the attack is related to GarcÃa's praise of members and trainers of the Guatemala City football team, a rival of the local Jutiapa team, during his December 2005 sports reporting, and that the threatening telephone calls that the journalist has been receiving since 2001 are related to his criticism of the Jutiapa team's performance. APG believes that those responsible for the attack and the threats are connected to the local team's managers and to local municipal government figures.
APF condemned these actions. It insisted that the police and Prosecutor-General's Office authorities investigate and capture both those who directly perpetrated these actions and those who masterminded them. National Civil Police Commissioner for Jutiapa Javier GarcÃa Arcón, Attorney General's Office prosecutor for Jutiapa Hugo Leonel MarroquÃn Carrera, and the Human Rights Prosecutor's Office have been informed of who is suspected of being responsible for the crimes, and the latter office has requested protection for the journalist.
CERIGUA (Centro de Reportes Informativos sobre Guatemala) had released a report in mid-2005 on the state of free expression in Guatemala which showed how dangerous it continues to be for journalists in the country. Between January 1 and July 31, 2005, 31 journalists were victims of violent attacks, including a radio station operator outside of the capital who was murdered, according to the report.
Guatemala City recorded the highest number of attacks, with eight, followed by the regional departments of Huehuetenango, Chiquimula, Zacapa, Sololá, Retalhuleu, Jalapa, Escuintla, San Marcos, Jutiapa, Totonicapán and Baja Verapaz.
The majority of the 2005 attacks came in response to journalists' attempts to obtain information from government institutions and courts, or cover protests and demonstrations by social groups and former members of the feared paramilitary anti-insurgency groups that were organised by the military in the 1980s. Since January 1, 2003, there have been more than 150 violent attacks against journalists, three of which resulted in death, according to CERIGUA.
